


when there's nothing left to burn

by shortitude



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Daisy gets to be a superhero, Daisy has a lot of Phil feelings, F/M, Gen, How did they really get on the containment pod?, Missing Scene, None of which have been thoroughly sorted out yet, Skye | Daisy Johnson-centric, because this is a genfic, for now, idk what i'm doing but i needed to write this part, s03 ep10 - missing scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-10
Updated: 2015-12-10
Packaged: 2018-05-06 01:10:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5397281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shortitude/pseuds/shortitude
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How they get back: some more in pieces than others.</p>
            </blockquote>





	when there's nothing left to burn

**Author's Note:**

> I FELT LIKE WE ALL DESERVED SOME MORE DAISY JOHNSON GETTING TO BE A SUPERHERO, so I let her be one. Missing scene, don't know what else will come of this but I just needed to get it out. Marked as genfic because it is, but you all know I read about as much into every little touch as the rest of you do. And now, let the FEST OF FEELS THROUGH FIC BEGIN

She stays back with Mack for two reasons. She’s the only one who can keep the portal open if they don’t make it out on time, and he’s her partner. She counts them in her head. Two reasons. 

( _And c. I can’t lose a single person more to these rocks._ )

HYDRA is just about in through the doors when Fitz and Coulson jump through the portal, and a sob of relief chokes out of her chest. Mack gives her the cue, and she breaks the machines vibrating the monolith, breaks them into little pieces, nobody else coming through with them; the portal disappears. (She doesn't look behind her to watch it disappear.) 

Then they’re on the move. She busts the door right in the faces of several HYDRA agents, slams more of them than she can count against the wall, and she can’t think about making sure they stay down, because they have an extraction plan to comply with. Director’s orders. 

Fitz is the first to go through the pod’s doors, and thank god they’re not busted. Mack follows, and then Daisy, she – she pushes Coulson inside, aware, finally, that she hasn’t let go of his arm once since he stepped back through the portal. She takes the rear and Mack gives May the signal and they’re up. 

She has to hold onto something with her free hand, so she doesn’t stumble and fall and break something during the extraction (because how much of a loser would that make her?) but she doesn’t let go of Coulson. He doesn’t ask her do. In fact, he doesn’t say much at all, and for a few seconds it doesn’t look like any of this is registering; like maybe if she hadn’t grabbed hold of his arm and guided him back, he would’ve stayed behind by the portal, speechless.

She doesn’t know how to fix this. She doesn’t think it’s a thing that she’s meant _to_ fix. But like so many things that have been happening to the team lately, even this can be traced back to her, and she feels like some responsibility should be on her shoulders. 

( _And d. I have to make sure Coulson returns._ ) 

The trip upwards only lasts about a minute, tops, but that minute feels eternal. The silence from Phil feels eternal. What did he see on that planet? Fitz looked banged up when he came through as well, but Coulson is… She assumes this is the face of a man who has figured out that vengeance, blind and full of rage, tastes like nothing once consumed. 

Her heart aches, first with relief that there’s one less true monster in the world, and then with worry for the man in front of her. The man who came back from another world, waded with her through HYDRA agents and made a miraculous escape look like a statue. (The Phil Coulson she met would’ve grinned and said something about alien worlds, two moons, something.) 

(The Phil Coulson she met, she has to assume and admit to herself, has likely vacated the premises. Maybe it’s temporary, maybe it’s not, but it doesn’t matter because she’s still here.)

She presses her thumb to his elbow, and he looks up at her. Sways, holds onto the same bar she’s holding onto with his good hand, and holds her gaze.  
One thing hasn’t changed; they can hold an entire conversation with that gaze. 

( _Are you--_

_Don’t ask me that._

_Don’t ask you yet?_

_Don’t ask me yet._ )

She glances down to the seat against the wall, and then up pointedly at him, and he doesn’t fight her on this. Phil Coulson sits down, like he hasn’t taken a seat in years, the weight of the world on his shoulders again. And her hand, moving from his elbow to said shoulder, squeezing it once in a promise. When he’s ready. When she is. 

She takes a seat beside him. 

“Sorry, we ran out of Red Vines,” she manages to croak out. 

He reaches out for her hand, finally, and she holds onto it. The trip to Zephyr One doesn’t last longer than a minute. 

It feels like a century.


End file.
